Freed After Six Years, Woman Sues Cops Over Dog Scent Evidence

A Texas woman has sued investigators who used dogs to pick her out of a "scent lineup" — a widely questioned investigative technique that nonetheless put her in prison for six years before her murder conviction was overturned.

The woman, Megan Winfrey, 25, was freed in April after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld its own ruling acquitting her in the 2004 slaying of a high school custodian.

Her father, Richard Winfrey Sr., and her brother, Richard Winfrey Jr., have also been cleared in the case after trials that all used the same evidence.

In 2004, the FBI itself reported that "human scent is easily transferred from one person or object to another" and concluded: "Identifying someone's scent at a crime scene is not an indication of complicity."

And in 2005, a second FBI report found "limited scientific data" to back up dogs' use to human scents.